The instant invention relates to a method and apparatus for accumulating documents, and more particularly to such a method and apparatus in which the documents being accumulated are not flat sheets but rather are folded sheets of paper.
Accumulating devices are frequently used in line with other paper handling equipment, such as folders and bursters, as a means of assembling a plurality of sheets of paper into a particular, desired packet prior to further processing, which may include additional collating, folding and inserting. For further background, reference can be made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,143,981 and 4,640,506.
When documents are fed from a burster or a folder and accumulated for further processing, typically the first sheet to emerge from the burster or folder becomes the bottom sheet of a stack, and each subsequent sheet is laid on top of the preceding sheet; in other words, the usual method of accumulating documents results in the documents being stacked in an opposite order in which they are fed. There is ample prior art which discloses devices for accumulating documents in the same order in which they are fed, which the art refers to as reverse accumulation.
When the documents being accumulated are not single sheets but instead are folded, the currently available accumulators are only able to accumulate the folded documents by placing each succeeding folded sheet seriatim over each preceding folded sheet, so that the normal accumulation is in opposite order from the order of feeding. There are many applications in which it is desirable to accumulate folded documents in the same order in which they are fed, which the art refers to as reverse accumulation. Accordingly, the instant invention provides a method and apparatus for reverse accumulating a plurality of folded documents.